A New Beginning
by Melika93
Summary: A highschool AU with Emma as the main character, she's just turned 15. It involves a few other characters, and there will be some Captain Swan scenes in later chapters. It's mainly going to focus on her dealing with her feelings for Killian, her relationships with some other very familiar faces, and the suggestion that she has magic. So if you like high school AUs, read this! :)
1. Chapter 1

"Emma, hurry up! We won't ask you again!" Gina was the strictest of the careworkers in this new home, and Emma knew she had no choice but to get on the bus with the rest of the kids.

"Please, Gina, don't make me go. I'm going to get bullied again, let me just stay here, it's not like anyone will care if I go to school or not. I'm new, they don't know me."

"Emma, this is your first day back and I do not have the time to be dealing with your nonsense. GET ON THAT BUS!"

Emma grabbed her bag, and walked reluctantly up the steps. As she made her way to the back of the bus she heard a few of the other kids whispering to each other, and made out words like 'annoying' and 'freak'. She'd been at this new home for nearly 2 weeks now, and still didn't have a single friend to show for it. Not that she was surprised, she'd been almost a year at the old home, and she hadn't had any friends there either. She thought she'd had one, but he'd betrayed her, and she'd learned not to trust people any more.

As she sat herself down at a window seat near the back, she reflected on the incident that had caused her to be moved here in the first place. Neal had been the only person she really spoke to at the old home. He was funny, exciting, and had seemed genuinely interested in her. They'd arrived roughly at the same time, and bonded when they both tried to steal the same cake from the kitchen. They had always worked together on everything, they'd take it in turns to do homework, and would be an alibi for the cover story the other one made up for not having done it. Emma would distract the careworkers while Neal sneaked in to the office to find extra pocket money, or took food from the kitchen. Neal was the best thing to ever happen to her … Or so she'd thought.

On her 15th birthday, Neal had ran into her room, and told her excitedly that he had a surprise for her. He said he'd found the key for the locker where the teachers kept all the confiscated phones. All she needed to do was pull the fire alarm, and he'd sneak in and take the phones. They could keep the best ones for themselves, then sell the rest and buy something really cool. It sounded perfect, and Emma had readily agreed. At first, everything went according to plan; Emma pulled the fire alarm, the whole school ran outside, and Neal went to the locker to get the phones. He'd forgotten his bag in the excitement, but Emma had just given him hers to hide them in, and he was going to put it straight back in her classroom when it was done. But as the class came back inside, the headteacher had come striding in. She'd walked straight up to Emma, and asked to check her bag, where of course she found all the phones. One was missing, but the headteacher thought Emma had just hidden it somewhere else. An anonymous student had turned Emma in. Emma was sent back to the home, and the careworkers threw her in her room. She'd remembered waiting all evening for Neal to come in so she could ask him what had happened. But he never came. The next morning, as she went down for breakfast she heard all the other kids muttering. Neal had run away. Over the next week, Emma was suspended while the school decided what to do with her, and even though she protested her innocence, she was seen on the CCTV pulling the fire alarm, and there were no cameras in the room with the locker. They said they had no choice but to expel her, and as there were no other schools in the local area, Emma had to be moved to a new home. And so here she was, about to start her first day at a new school. A new place to be mocked and bullied… She so hated her life.

After about 15 minutes, the bus slowed to a stop, and the kids started getting off. Emma sighed as she picked up her stuff and walked out with the rest of them. The sun was high in the sky, and she could already feel small beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Some jocks were playing football in the schoolyard, and there were clusters of kids chatting to each other. For a brief moment Emma envied them, wishing that she knew what it felt like to have friends and fit in, but then she brushed those thoughts out of her head, there was no point dwelling on what she'd never have. Over in the corner near the door, a boy on crutches was sat on a bench, staring intently at the crowd of people by the buses. His eyes met hers, and he smiled deeply; it unnerved Emma how excited he looked. The boy lifted himself onto his feet, and started making his way over to her. Emma looked around for somewhere to hide, but it was open ground, and at any rate, she'd feel kind of bad escaping someone on crutches. When he finally arrived in front of her, his sentence sent chills down her spine.

"Hello, Emma. I'm August. I've been waiting a very long time for you."


	2. Chapter 2

"Emma, wait!" August called after her, as Emma turned on her heels and started striding away from him. "Emma, please, just… Listen! Let me explain!"

"How do you know my name?!" Emma shouted at him angrily, turning back to face him with a furious glare. She'd just wanted the day to go by without any hassle, and this stupid boy had already ruined it for her. He smiled sadly at her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shock you like that, I just needed you to pay attention. The crutches don't exactly exude confidence, people tend to ignore me. I couldn't risk that happening with you, Emma. I really am sorry, I just got a bit overexcited, like I said, I've waited so long to see you again." He looked shamefully down at the ground, and Emma couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him. 'Again' she thought, wondering what he meant. He met her eyes and continued. "We were in a care home together, you probably don't remember me, do you?" Emma shook her head, puzzled, she knew she'd never seen him before, she was good with faces. "No, I wouldn't expect you to. It was your first care home, you were just a baby when they brought you in. I was the one who found you, or so they told me, I don't really remember that much, I was only 2 at the time. I'd been playing in the garden, and I found you, behind a hedge. We were there for 3 years together, until I was fostered… I begged them to take you with us, Emma, I really did. But they only wanted one child, they couldn't take on the responsibility of both of us. I still feel so guilty about that moment, I should've insisted, or refused to go with them, but I was young and selfish, I wanted a family."

"Why was that selfish? I don't blame you for that, there's nothing wrong with wanting a family. Why would you have risked that for me?" Emma couldn't understand why August was telling her all of this, there must've been loads of other kids in that home, why was August obsessing over her?

"Ah, Emma, you really don't know, do you? You're special," August paused and then whispered in awe, "You have magic." Magic? This August guy was insane! What kind of game was he playing? Oh. And then Emma realised, that's probably what it was, just a game. She doubted they'd even been in the same home, he was probably just a pathetic guy looking to have some fun at the new girl's expense. Enough kids at the new home already hated her, one of them had probably told him her name and got him to play a trick on her. Well, it wasn't gonna work. She sneered at him, and walked proudly away, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of running, especially as he wouldn't be able to chase her on his crutches anyway. She ignored his calling out as she made her way to her class, just in time for the bell ringing.

She found her form tutor by looking at the school map Gina had thrust upon her before leaving, and she settled into one of the seats at the back, as the room steadily filled with teenagers. Her teacher, Miss Blanchett, wasn't here yet, so instead she paid attention to the other kids in the class. She could already identify pretty much all the cliques- there were the nerds at the front, sorting out their pens and chatting about the holiday work, there were the jocks with their letterman jackets, leaning back on their chairs with their feet on the table, there were the goths wearing black and talking solemnly to each other, and various other friendship groups dotted around the classroom. Only one guy didn't seem to fit in with the others, a cute dark haired boy with subtle eyeliner in the seat next to her who was sketching a ship on the front of his notepad. He looked up as he noticed her watching him, and winked cheekily as she blushed and looked away. She hoped he'd go back to drawing his ship, but instead he rested his elbow on the table, leaned his head against his hand, and continued to stare at her until an old man with a cane walked into the classroom and everyone shut up.

"I'm afraid Miss Blanchett isn't feeling well today, so as headmaster it falls upon me to do the introductions. I trust you all worked hard over the break. Anyway, dearies, you have 2 new students joining your class." The man's voice was thin and quiet, and yet it had a stern quality that instantly made people feel intimidated; his face was somewhat scary too, his skin was so dry it made it appear cracked and fractured. Emma wondered who the other new student was, maybe she wasn't the only one to get expelled last semester? "Firstly, let me introduce miss Emma Swan," he looked around the class till his eyes met hers, "You're lucky we accepted you after you got expelled from your last school, I assure you, we will not tolerate any rule breaking here, so I warn you to be on your best behaviour or I will personally send you straight back home to that care home of yours." Rage bubbled inside of Emma, how dare he announce in front of the whole class that she was not only expelled, but that she lived in a care home! "Secondly, we have a transfer student from England, he-" But before the headmaster could finish his sentence, the boy next to her spoke up.

"Actually, _sir,_ having seen what a terrible job you did introducing Swan here, I think I'll just tell everybody who I am by myself." He ignored the headmaster's hostile eyes as he looked around the class, before smiling directly at Emma, "I'm Killian Jones."


	3. Chapter 3

After the headmaster (who Emma had heard was called Mr Gold) had left the room, Killian turned to her with a cheeky grin. _This isn't gonna be good,_ she thought to herself, Mr Gold had hardly given her much of a chance to endear herself to the class. Everyone was going to think she was the weird kid whose own parents didn't even want her… Emma had found that 'normal' children didn't tend to make a habit of socialising with orphans. She felt the rage growing inside of her again, first that kid August had tried to make a fool of her, and now the headmaster had embarrassed her irreversibly. How come this Killian guy had gotten off so easily? Why couldn't she have introduced herself like he did? Her resentment was overpowering.

"What do you want?" She snapped at him, hoping to scare him off, but to her annoyance his grin just deepened and he leaned slightly closer.

"Oooh, quite the attitude, I had a feeling you were a feisty one." He paused, seeming to enjoy the angry glare she shot at him, before continuing, although his voice was slightly softer now. "So, you were expelled and you live in a care home? This is the only high school in the area, so I'm guessing your care home is new too? Must get pretty lonely."

"I, uh, yeah. I mean, I guess." Emma couldn't work out why she hadn't slapped the smile off his face, but there was something about his piercing gaze that caught her off guard. His words hadn't been mocking, they'd been curious. Irritating as he was, he was at least talking to her, and he seemed genuine. But Neal had seemed genuine to, she reminded herself, and look where that had got her. "What do you care, anyway? Bet you think you're so cool with your eyeliner and your leather jacket, I've already had one guy tease me today, I don't really need another."

"Try something new, darling, it's called trust." He said, evidently hurt as he turned away from her and went back to sketching his ship. Emma felt a little bad, but her walls were up, and she knew from experience that there was no point in trying to pull them back down because it never worked. It had always been easier to feel nothing at all than to allow herself to dwell on the crappy hand that life had dealt her. Killian could never understand what it was like to be her, and so he may be feeling dejected now, but it was probably better that he didn't talk to her anyway. She needed to be alone right now.

The bell rang to signal the end of form tutor, and Emma could hear people whispering as she walked past. She considered trying to apologise to Killian for being mean about his appearance, she knew what it felt like to be self-conscious, but she couldn't find him in the crowd of people moving out of the door. She guessed she'd just write him a note or something. Anyway, she should probably start figuring out which way she had to go now, her first class was Woodwork but she had absolutely no idea where that was, so she looked down once again at the map Gina had given her. The woman was strict, but at least she was efficient, although Emma doubted her and Neal would have gotten away with half the stuff they'd done if Gina had been at their old home. After successfully working out where to go, she arrived in the room and found herself a bench. A minute later, another person arrived at the bench… August.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were 17?" She exclaimed, flustered.

"I am," he replied, smoothly, "but unfortunately I haven't progressed in this class since my freshman year, they keep holding me back. Let's just say I have unresolved wood-related issues." He glanced sadly down at his legs as he said it, and Emma wondered if he'd been in an accident caused by hitting a tree or something. Anyway, she was determined to just ignore him and get this day over and done with, so she didn't ask. But he apparently either didn't notice her silence, or didn't care, because he carried on talking despite it. "You know, Emma, I honestly didn't mean to upset you earlier. I understand that hearing the word 'magic' must've been pretty confusing for you, but I promise I wasn't lying to you. You're not ready to believe yet, that's fine, but can you at least believe that _I_ believe? I'm not trying to wind you up or anything, and I really was in the care home with you, I have a picture at home to prove it, I'll bring it in tomorrow if you want to see it? Please, Emma, don't shut me out, I feel like I let you down before, and I want to be here for you. Maybe you can think of me as your slightly crazy friend?" He smiled as he said so, he really did have an easy smile, and the way he looked at her, he seemed so desperate for her to listen to him. She found it hard to believe that this guy was just playing a silly prank, so maybe he really was crazy enough to believe in magic. She thought of all the times she'd wished for a miracle to take her away from her boring life, and decided that maybe August needed to believe in the hope of magic in order to deal with whatever crappy stuff had happened in his life. Was she really going to judge him for that?

"Fine, but no more of this magic stuff. Let's start over." She held her hand out to him, "I'm Emma Swan." He nodded appreciatively at her as he shook her hand and replied.

"I'm August Booth. Here's to a new beginning."


	4. Chapter 4

As Emma once again sat near the back of the bus on the way back home, she looked back on her day. She was glad she'd made friends with August, but he was an absolutely useless woodwork partner, he hadn't been kidding about having an aversion to it. He'd winced every time she'd used the saw, and had flat out refused to hammer any pieces together. Eventually she decided to just task him with sanding down the pieces she'd sawed, but even then he'd done it so lightly that she'd had to go over it again. Still, his poor woodwork aside, she'd actually enjoyed chatting with him, he was surprisingly easy to talk to, and he'd promised to bring a photo from their first care home with him the next day for her to look at. She was secretly really excited to see it, she'd only seen one picture of herself as a toddler, and that was the one hidden in her file.

The bus pulled in, and she practically ran inside, she couldn't wait to just collapse on her mattress and take some time alone. She opened her door and then slumped against it as she closed it, finally, some peace and quiet.

"Lovely place you've got here," called a friendly but sarcastic voice behind her. Emma swivelled round in shock, and gaped as she saw Killian Jones perched on the edge of her bed. "I especially love the pink covers, didn't peg you for a girly girl." He continued with a roguish grin.

"I, they, Gina just had to find a spare one when I moved in, she says I can choose my own when they take us shopping next week… How the hell did you get in here?!"

"You know, Swan, for someone who's spent her life in the system, I'm amazed you haven't realised how easy it is to sneak into one of these places. Seriously, there's kids milling about everywhere, the staff are way too pre-occupied to notice one more." He winked again, but Emma frowned at Killian's words.

"How did you know I've spent my life in the system?" Her tone was accusatory.

"That massive chip on your shoulder, the one that seems to physically weigh you down with how much power you give it, that much hatred for the world doesn't come from just a couple of years in a care home. That comes from never having known anything different. The way you snapped at me earlier… You're too used to pushing people away."

"Oh yeah, I meant to say sorry about that, I didn't mean it."

"I know." He replied quickly, kindly. Emma didn't like his know-it-all attitude.

"Oh, really? And what made you so sure that I didn't?"

"Because when you're in pain the easiest thing to do is lash out at someone else," his words had a depth to them that made Emma think he was talking from experience. "Besides, there's no way you could have an issue with the guyliner, it makes me look hot… You like it." He whispered flirtingly.

"Ugh, you're so full of yourself! I take it back, I'm not sorry!"

"Nuh-uh, you said it, no take-backsies!" Killian sang cheerfully, stepping closer.

"No take-backsies? What are you, 5?" She laughed despite herself, grabbing a pillow from the bed and hitting him with it. The blow caught him on his head and ruffled up his hair, making him look even cuter than before, although Emma would never admit that.

"Hey, you messed up my hair! That's like my best feature, other than my piercing eyes."

"Serves you right for being an idiot," Emma insisted, "Now, please get out, Gina will kill me if she finds you here."

"Seriously? You're not allowed boys in your room? She must be a real prude."

"No, I'm not allowed uninvited guests in my room without getting her permission. She's not a prude, she's practical."

"Fine, so get permission." Killian stepped closer again, raising his eyebrows and slowly biting his top lip, his tone had once again turned flirty.

"No! I don't want you here either, you broke into my room! Now get out will you?" Emma sighed exasperatedly, stepping back from his advances. He rolled his eyes and headed towards the window, lifting it open and raising himself onto the window. Flustered, Emma ran over and half yelled, half whispered, "What are you doing?! Leave through the door like a normal person!"

"Fine, I'll leave if you don't want me, but I'm at least gonna have some fun with it. Besides, if anyone sees me they'll think we were having a secret rendezvous, I think I prefer it that way. Catch you later, Swan." He winked one final time as he lowered himself on to the roof, slid down the tiles, and jumped onto the grass, landing in a roll that made his long leather coat trail behind him like he was some kind of superhero. He walked away with a swagger, and didn't once look back. Emma wasn't sure if it was for her benefit, or if he really did think he was that cool. Emma closed the window, and collapsed on her bed, like she'd planned to in the first place. That Killian was irritating as hell, but she couldn't deny that the room felt a little lonelier without him in it. She shook her head, clearing it of thoughts, and settled down for a nap.

 _He's such an idiot,_ she thought drearily as she drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Emma awoke that morning trembling with anticipation at the thought of seeing the picture August had promised her. She had so little to remind herself of her past, to be able to see and hold something as physical as a photograph… She knew it would sound stupid to anyone else, but to her it really meant a lot. She just really hoped she was right to trust August and he wasn't playing her, she's not sure she could take another betrayal so soon after Neal. Her life always seemed full of disappointment, and for once she just wanted a happy outcome.

She was unsure how she felt at the prospect of seeing Killian. She definitely had feelings for him, but what those feelings were she had no idea. It might be the start of a crush, but it could also just be that she found him really, really annoying and arrogant. She guessed she'd deal with that later, she didn't have time to be thinking about boys in that way. Her friendship with Neal had been so intense, and she'd been so afraid of losing him that she'd never stopped to consider if they'd maybe had something more, but now that she already had lost him, she'd realised that maybe the reason it hurt SO much was because she'd stopped seeing him as just a friend long ago. Neal had made her feel so special, so much like herself, and then he'd broken her heart. Emma didn't want to open herself up to that again, so she decided to just live in the moment in regards to Killian, and not worry herself trying to decode her feelings.

When her school bus pulled in, she stepped off, looking anxiously around for August, but it didn't take her long to spot him as he was already stood by the bus stop waiting for her. He waved her over, and started limping to a slightly more secluded part of the playground.

"Emma, hey!" He greeted her cheerfully, reaching into his bag, and shuffling his hand about, searching for something, "I found the photo. I actually found a few, but this one was my favourite. It's a little faded, it was taken like 13 years ago, but, I mean, it's still clear enough. Here." He handed it over to her, searching her face for signs of recognition. Emma nervously took the photo from him and stared down at it. A sweet little blond girl smiled up at her, her eyes beaming, unburdened from life, displaying the innocence she'd long grown out of. Next to her, a brown-haired boy had his arm resting on her shoulders, looking every bit like a protective older brother, and instead of smiling at the camera, he was smiling at her. It was unmistakeably August, his facial features were still the same, but this must've been before the accident as there was no sign of crutches or anything like that. Emma felt a tear forming in her right eye, and hurriedly wiped it away, hoping August wouldn't notice.

"Thanks, August, it's a really nice picture. I don't have any of myself as a child… Would it be okay if I held onto this for a day or two?" She asked him tentatively. She knew it was his favourite, but it felt so novel looking at a picture of her younger self, seeing such a happy face. She wanted to be able to look at it a few more times, to try and connect with the smiley little girl in the photo. August smiled at her and nodded kindly.

"Keep it, like I said, I have plenty of photos of us. You deserve to have it, it's the least I can do. I'm just glad you can believe me now, we were so close, Emma, and I never forgot about you. I really hope I can get your trust back, it would be nice to be that close to you again. And I know I promised not to go on about the whole magic thing, but you really are special, Emma. I want to be able to prove that to you." Just then, the bell rang to signal the start of classes. "Anyway, guess I have to be off, I'll see you at break time."

Emma sauntered slowly to her form tutor, transfixed on the photo, barely looking up as she walked through the door. She realised instantly that this was a mistake, as she bumped into somebody in front of her. She felt her stomach sink as she recognised the slow, cruel voice that reprimanded her.

"Miss Swan, did you not hear me yesterday when I said we weren't going to tolerate any bad behaviour from you? Crashing in to me, dearie, is not what I expect from my students. What's that in your hand that was so much more important than looking where you're going?" Mr Gold's voice was devoid of any compassion as he reached out to snatch her photo away, but Emma instinctively pulled it close to her chest.

"I'm sorry, sir, it's just a picture from my childhood that I was given, I'll put it away. I didn't mean to bump into you." Emma hated sucking up to him, but she didn't want to be humiliated like she had been yesterday. She stared pleadingly into his cold eyes, trying not to focus on the cracked skin around them, it freaked her out a bit.

"You won't put it away until I say you can. You could've walked into anybody while looking at that photo, so it seems fair that everybody gets to look at it, as anybody could've been affected by it." Emma couldn't understand why the headmaster was so intent on bullying her over something so small, and she hated the idea of everyone seeing something so private. But just as she was debating whether to actually hand in the picture, a cheeky drawl from the back called out.

"Honestly, sir, I don't think anybody else in the class is that fussed about looking at pictures of little girls, it's kind of worrying that a headmaster of a school is so desperate to see photos of young children." Killian smirked defiantly as Mr Gold strode angrily over to him, not even taking his feet off the desk, as he leaned back in his chair and faced the furious teacher. "Something wrong, crocodile?" A couple of kids in the class gasped in anticipation at Killian's rude reference to Mr Gold's face, Emma was worried about what kind of trouble it would get him into, but was guilty to realise she was also glad about having the heat taken off of her. She was expecting Mr Gold to fly into a rage, but he kept his calm as he peered down at Killian.

"With me, now." He whispered before turning and stepping towards the door. "The rest of you move to your classes when you hear the bell." He called to the class, without turning back, as Killian reluctantly followed him out, satchel over his shoulder, clutching his notebook under his arm. He winked at Emma as he went past her, but she could see that it was just a front, and recognised a glint of fear in his eyes. Without saying anything, he handed her a folded sheet from his notebook, and then left the room behind Mr Gold.

Emma curiously opened up the piece of paper, and smiled despite herself at what was on it. Fancy letters at the top read 'A girly room for a girly girl', and the rest of the page was a black and white sketch of her room, except the wallpaper was adorned with flowers and rainbows, there was a unicorn mobile hanging above her bed (which had the awful princess sheets she still had in her current room), and a rug in the shape of a dress was on her floor. A tidy scrawl at the bottom read 'I didn't have pink colouring pens, but just imagine everything is pink. I know you like things that way'. Emma shook her head, sighing incredulously to herself at the effort he'd gone through just to tease her. She folded it back up and placed it in her bag, next to the photo August had given her. _I'll get him back,_ she thought determinedly, and sat down, her mind racing as she thought of how she could prank Killian.


End file.
